EXCLUSIVE: RI National Ground Zero for Unions
Thursday, March 10, 2011
The substantial media buy could escalate a standoff that has already seized the national spotlight, making Rhode Island one of the key battlegrounds between unions and budget hawks determined to rein in deficits and unfunded pension liabilities.
“Unions will fight this war on as many fronts as they have to, regardless of whether it’s their ‘home turf,’” said Jennifer Duffy, a senior editor at The Cook Political Report. “This is a battle about survival to them. It’s just that fundamental.”
Unlike other states, such as Wisconsin, where unions have battled conservative governors, Rhode Island is perceived as more union friendly and is among the most Democratic states in the country—making the confrontation between the teachers’ union and Taveras, a progressive Democrat, all the more unexpected.
One source familiar with the situation told GoLocalProv that the American Federation of Teachers had a substantial media buy scheduled to run last Sunday—but postponed it at the last minute amid 11th-hour negotiations between the city and the Providence Teachers Union, which is still hoping to work out an alternative to the terminations. In addition to the threat of a major publicity offensive, the union is also weighing a lawsuit if those talks don’t end in any resolution, according to the source.
‘It would be war’
Guy Dufault, a retired publicist who has worked with labor unions, said the situation could escalate into an all-out PR war. “There’s no question the wholesale terminations were an attack on unions. You can’t deny that,” Dufault told GoLocalProv. “From a precedent-setting standpoint, if these terminations are then turned around and used to get rid of senior teachers, I think it would be war.”
“We are at the very start of a battle to redefine unionism in the country,” said state GOP chair Giovanni Cicione.
He said the American Federation of Teachers ad campaign is about maintaining the strength of the union. “There should be no question that unions are big business,” Cicione said. “What unions are defending is their product, which are the Rhode Island dues-paying members.”
Dufault rejected that as a “specious argument.” He said the real fight is between the haves and the have nots—rich Republicans and the workers the unions represent.
City official: ‘A distraction’
A spokeswoman for Taveras last night described the potential ad campaign as a “distraction.”
“We cannot afford to be distracted by rumors or PR campaigns,” said Melissa Withers. “We have a fiscal crisis to reckon with and we will forge ahead with the same honesty and transparency that we’ve demonstrated since taking office on January 3.”
Battleground state?
Not everyone is sure that Rhode Island could become the next battleground state for union rights like Wisconsin has. “I’m keeping my eye on it but I hope Rhode Island is not in the mood for stuff like this,” said J. Michael Downey, President of Council 94 of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Workers.
Ed Pacheco, the state Democratic chairman, said he is confident that Taveras and the union can work towards a resolution—and he rejected any comparison with Wisconsin. “I don’t see it as the same instance,” Pacheco said. “We have a mayor who believes in organizing and collective bargaining which is completely different than the principles of the governor of Wisconsin.”
As for the next battleground state, Duffy said Florida—where union advocates warn that deep budget cuts are threatening collective bargaining—is more likely to come to the forefront than Rhode Island. At the state level, she said Governor Lincoln Chafee is not confronting unions. “While Chafee proposed that public employees pay more for their benefits, he didn’t threaten unions – either in terms of dollars or policy—quite the way they’ve been threatened in other states,” Duffy said.
Of course, it’s been a different story for Taveras, but his office has said the mass terminations were necessary to meet a March 1 state deadline for notifying teachers of possible changes to their employment. Because the budget was not done, termination letters were sent to all teachers.
“I’m sure the AFT believes those letters set a bad example and they’d like to communicate their willingness to fight both to Providence and to other jurisdictions,” Duffy said.
A spokeswoman for national AFT President Randi Weingarten did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.
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Comments:
ed curtis
8:21am on Thursday, March 10, 2011
Let's hope this infestation of union thugs spend their time at "union supporter' Chafee's home(s) so they can do the same thing to his personal property that they did to the state capitol in Wisconsin.
BTW - that giant swishing sound is Rhode Island and Providence Plantations swirling down the toilet bowl of America because of unions.
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Bob Council
12:01pm on Thursday, March 10, 2011
What a waste of teachers dues!! Why don't the unions put that money into purchasing books or computers for the kids tht they say they are "their first priority"?
Or how about giving that 1 - 2 million in teacher's union dues (paid for by the hard working teachers) to the city of Providence so they can keep those union dues paying teacher in their jobs?
They just don't get it. There is no money in the till. Taxpayers are broke, inflation is on the rise, new taxes are proposed by the Gov., jobless rate is off the wall, no companies coming to this state, retirees leaving as fast as they can. Time to reconsider strategies.
ed curtis
12:24pm on Thursday, March 10, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLxZ9V2ns84
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBpp1A4Z_o4
Truth will set you free.
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Jack McCabe
12:59pm on Thursday, March 10, 2011
Here come the Union haters!
Maybe teachers should work for free just to save you some money for your boat and vacation?
If you enjoy being middle class you might should be thanking the unions not bashing them.
Teachers deserve respect and a decent wage, AND the right to negotiate.
Bob Council
1:17pm on Thursday, March 10, 2011
I love teachers, I hate unions for what they have done to the prestige of teachers, for the embarassment they bring to teachers and for their single minded approach to undermine quality education and protect those who should not be protected.
More teachers have lost their jobs at the hands of union demands than in any other way you can define. Decent wages are due but not pay for sick days not taken annual 3% COLA increases on top of step increases of 6-19%, and health care co-pays that are single digit. And then have the gaul to say we didn't get a "raise" this year.
NO ONE gets those raises in the real world. And what is has resulted in is the "GM outcome". Teachers are loosing their jobs, schools are closing.... and you have the unions to thank for it. Taxpayers can't afford your salaries and keep their homes. Check the REAL inflation rate over the next three months as ou buy food and gas.
ed curtis
1:44pm on Thursday, March 10, 2011
"Teachers deserve respect and a decent wage, AND the right to negotiate."
No one is disrespecting teachers. Who is arguing that point?
Everyone deserves the money they are worth. MERIT pay, not union mandates!
Open your eyes.
UNIONS are the problem, not the fix. Remove the unions from the equation and things will settle down.
As for the BS about boats and vacations, try looking at those union bosses. Talk about overpaid, elitists. Stop the lies about the people who do not like unions and speak out about the unions' goon squad tactics to anyone who disagrees with their agenda. It's the UNION BOSSES you should be calling out as the elitists and thugs they are, not the hard working non-union middle class taxpayers.
One more thing the progressives fail to realize ... There is nowhere in the US Constitution for the "right to negotiate" for its citizenry. It is NOT a human right nor should it be.
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Joyce Bryant
1:52pm on Thursday, March 10, 2011
'Dufault rejected that as a “specious argument.” He said the real fight is between the haves and the have nots—rich Republicans and the workers the unions represent.'
What Republicans??? This is Rhode Island.
Your fight is with the Democrats, they hold the purse strings or haven't you been paying attention?
Max Diesel
2:04pm on Thursday, March 10, 2011
____________________________________
The same old ‘at war’ rhetoric is just creating more union haters. Everyone has some appreciation for what teachers, firefighters, and policeman do but while the private sector is taking layoffs and pay cuts it’s hard to sympathize with the public sector union rhetoric when in some cases they have been unaffected by this financial meltdown. Keep telling us you’re at war while American soldiers are being killed in the Middle East. It leaves many of us with a foul taste.
Joyce Bryant
2:07pm on Thursday, March 10, 2011
BRAVO MAX!
Jack McCabe
2:34pm on Thursday, March 10, 2011
BRAVO to the TEACHERS and the UNIONS that support them!!
Folks
No one would be attacking the teachers union, public sector, private sector, or anyone else if
we were going after where the countries wealth went down the rabbit hole.
We started two wars since over the last two decades. One we didn't need to have in the first place.
Our countries wealth is has "trickled" up to the top with 1% holding of the wealth of 50% of the
country. That's where the anger should be, not at teachers and middle class citizens etching out
agreements for a living wage.
If you happen to be middle class you should be thanking unions for fighting for your standard of
living! Working class were making slave wages before we had unions. Read your history.
ed curtis
2:49pm on Thursday, March 10, 2011
The only thing to thank unions for is the loss of good job by the closing at their hands of Uniroyal, Allied Signal/Fram Filters, Brown & Sharp, United Wire, Star City Glass and a host of other businesses that LEFT Rhode Island for NON-UNION states.
Unions destroy business - plain and simple. They steal money through extortion from workers via dues and then enrich those elitist union leaders. Tell Trumka and the rest of the union leadership to SPREAD THEIR WEALTH and stay out of this state!
SAVE RI - remove the public unions!
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Gary Arnold
12:33am on Friday, March 11, 2011
What good teachers? We have a failing shcool system. The educational system includes teachers, school committees, GA and the Gov, they are all failing us.